Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-11-03


Gregory Bancroft had thought him.
self above emotion, and that the high,
holy calm that had come to him after
the conflict could not again be broken
by sight of the woman he once loved
But he had miscalculated his strength
The magnificent organization that had
touched earth at so many points the
powerful, passionate nature was stirred
again to its depths.
She was one of those slight, SEEM
ingly fragile women who, with no APP
parent potent physical charm, are yet
possessed of some strange magnetic
power over the lives of the strong
self-suf1icient among men, a power as
inexplicable as it is unconscious to
themselves.
She lifted her head from the bed and
met his eyes. Something in them un-
sealed her lips.
81 loved you," she said. 81 will
confess it now in the awful presence of
death, and let God be my Judge /
was an unloved wife. 1 learned to
love the air you breathed You
seemed high and grand and passion
less, / was safe. I worshipped
you. 1t was heaven to touch your
hand. Oh, God, that I should
have been the cause of your ruin!"
Eyes" he said, with strong effort
to be calm, 81 knew you were mine.
l knew that every pulse and fiber was
under my control. | knew that by
the laws of our being you belonged to
me, and that Lad | asked you to flee
with me to the uttermost isles of the
sea you would have consented, without
counting the cost. You thought | was
grand and passionless, that as Gods
high priest [ was beyond temptation.
You never knew what it, at least, cost
me to meet you and give you counsel,
nor how the sensual and earthly fought
for supremacy over the spiritual in my
soul. But wrestled and prayed, and
the strength came to put passion I'M
der my feet. I conquered. A light
from the face of the infinite shone
upon me. / moved in calm. clear air.
| stood before my people and looked
into their upturned faces with a new
sympathy for their weaknesses.
II looked upon your face and
thanked God that you were safe from
me, that had not transgressed against
you nor the man who was once my
friend. In the midst of the calm the
conspiracy against me was revealed
suddenly. l found myself the victim
of network of circumstances, my
fair fame dishonored, myself dragged
into the publicity of a court of law
and made the subject of rude jokes
and insulting caricature; and the tes-
timony of the woman whose honor l
had guarded as with my life was the
central link in the chain of damaging
evidence against me-"
She knelt there listening, with that
terrible despair upon her face. "You
you will i've" she said brokenly
Il will go to lawyer. / will make a
sworn statement Your name shall
yet be cleared"
ut is too late," he said. cit would
not undo the wrong. l must have
needed the discipline; | shall soon know
why it was permitted.
A reaction was coming. She gave
him draught from goblet on the
table and his eyes closed YEARLY. His
lips moved. She bent her head to lis
ten to the words he uttered.
..
His breath upon the fire doth blow"
he was repeating with slow deep en-
phasis on the words. Then he slept.
She sat and watched him. His mind
seemed to wander back to the days
when he was the idol of his people.
Fragments of hymns and sublime
prophecies came to his lips. Again he
was the minister of God, standing at
the altar, distributing the mystical
emblems of Christ's death. Again his
hands were lifted in benediction and
his lips moved in the words: MAY the
peace of God, which passeth under
standing, keep you"
Then change came. He was liv-
ing over the dark hours of his agony.
The veins stood out upon his forehead.
His head moved from side to side in
mortal anguish. His mighty frame
shook in the inner tempest. Again
he was writhing under the blow dealt
him by the man whom he had once
trusted, but who had been dominated
by the demon of jealous hatred, who
had sworn to overthrow his powerful
rival, and who had all too surely sue
ceeded. Again he stood in the pitiless
MONDAY nSnG or court OF law, Win
the whole world as spectators. Again
he knelt under the stars and cried,
"My God! why hast thou forsaken
meP"
But his face did not mirror more
terrible agony than did that of the
woman who bent over him, and with
trembling hand wiped the drops from
his forehead. He awoke and looked
up into her face.
"You suffer with me-" he said, gent
~. 81 may come to you and help you
to be strong after l am free. Are
they not all ministering spirits? !"
His utterance seemed less clear. i
I have had my last hour of earthly ago
n.y." he said.
And now strange awe crept over
the woman as she sat and watched the
noble face. for by the mystical change
that overshadowed it she knew that a
Presence had entered the room to
claim his own-had entered, not as
the King of Tersors, but as an all
powerful deliverer, bringing to this
long tried spirit the crown of immor-
tally. His face shone with the re-
Aoot;o,, Of tho oop,ipr Down his cars